Mobile Phone Cradle

[Gwest44]

Just looking to canvas opinion on the mobile phone cradle - I'm not a big fan of changing a car from it original spec but is there any point in purchasing a snap in adapter to utilise the cradle.

The car was produced in June 2013 so it has a DAB radio as standard along with the USB and Aux ports and I generally use Bluetooth to play music from my phone or the car's hard drive to play the pre-loaded CD's.

My only thought with the cradle is that it would enable album artwork which I don't appear to get with any of the methods mentioned above - the car also has option "S06NS Enhanced telephoney with extended smartphone connectivity" so again I'm thinking the cradle might provide additional functionality if I get a snap in adapter.

Appreciate any thoughts.

[john-e89]

Anything bigger than an iPhone 5 wont fit and no cradle available I'm afraid Gwest. Old car now by tech standards.

[Colin_E]

One way to get artwork on the display is to put all your music on a USB & plug it into the USB socket in your photo.
I got a tiny 128Gb 'ultra fit' drive for 12 quid or so that barely protrudes from the socket and it just stays there permanently. There's ample capacity for more than 1000 albums at higher resolution than the onboard hard drive (which is a bit useless IMHO in terms of capacity, audio quality and lack of artwork).
In my case the cigar lighter socket alongside has another dual USB to provide power to charge a phone

[Gwest44]

Someone on the E89 Facebook group has suggested this wireless charger which replaces the phone cradle and definitely fits the E89.
I like that because it's still relatively stock and provides a practical charging solution.
Can then use the USB solution to sort out the album artwork

[The.Analyst]

USB artwork support seems to be a bit hit and miss.

I’ve used it and about 20% of the album covers don’t encode for whatever reason.

Apart from that it works fine although on the E89 you are restricted to MP3 and WMA encodings.

Others have used an old iPhone as a dedicated iPod player which then gives seamless artwork support.

I believe annubis Zed is a guru on this forum who can give the definitive details of which snap in cradles and what underlying support is required to support advanced media streaming.

I use the smokers tray to cradle the phone and a usb plug in charger so that the phone screen be seen when looking down to see what events are happening on the phone.

[AnubisZed]

Someone on the E89 Facebook group has suggested this wireless charger which replaces the phone cradle and definitely fits the E89.
I like that because it's still relatively stock and provides a practical charging solution.
Can then use the USB solution to sort out the album artwork

Top bloke that was, obviously knows his stuff

[tiglon]

Does anyone really want album artwork on the screen while they're driving? Can't see the point myself.

I've replaced my cradle thing with a standard oddments tray and wired in a magnetic wireless charging mount on my dashboard for the phone, which connects via bluetooth. I've just bought an Alexa Auto to fit (probably inside the centre console) for voice control because the google voice control on my phone is a bit hit and miss in the car. Charging, google maps (sometimes the traffic/congestion info can save a lot of time on a long journey compared with iDrive sat nav) and voice control are all covered, it cost in total less than £100, and not a wire in sight

[AnubisZed]

Does anyone really want album artwork on the screen while they're driving? Can't see the point myself.
....

Well it would seem that a lot do, not only is it a very common question here and over on the 3 series forums, but it is standard on both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which are becoming the norm these days. I agree that it doesn't really add a massive extra to your driving experience, but it just brings it up to a more modern style from a 12 year old (+) design (Album Art was only available, and then only as an option, after 2011)

[Ed.Straker]

Does anyone really want album artwork on the screen while they're driving? Can't see the point myself.

I've replaced my cradle thing with a standard oddments tray and wired in a magnetic wireless charging mount on my dashboard for the phone, which connects via bluetooth. I've just bought an Alexa Auto to fit (probably inside the centre console) for voice control because the google voice control on my phone is a bit hit and miss in the car. Charging, google maps (sometimes the traffic/congestion info can save a lot of time on a long journey compared with iDrive sat nav) and voice control are all covered, it cost in total less than £100, and not a wire in sight

I really like the artwork display on the wide screen.

I have it set up with the map, North up occupying the left 2/3rd and the media on the right 1/3.

When you are searching for or confirming your choice the album artwork is recognised in an instant.

On a long journey it all adds up to the experience.

It still looks messy with a phone perched on the dashboard IMHO, far better to have it tucked away.

Must look at the voice stuff though as the BMW stock stuff is s**t!

[tiglon]

Fair enough regarding the artwork!

I agree it's nicer to have your phone stashed away, but if you want the benefit of half decent maps in your E89, it's the only way to do it without spending hundreds more.

[Gwest44]

Fair enough regarding the artwork!

I agree it's nicer to have your phone stashed away, but if you want the benefit of half decent maps in your E89, it's the only way to do it without spending hundreds more.

Bought the Alexa Auto based on your post and it arrived today - I will be sending it back tomorrow. The mount a d wires are very intrusi e and while I appreciate that issue could probably be overcome with a bit of effort I'm struggling to see what benefit it provides other than improved voice recognition. But at least I tried - just waiting on the wireless charger now.

[tiglon]

Fair enough regarding the artwork!

I agree it's nicer to have your phone stashed away, but if you want the benefit of half decent maps in your E89, it's the only way to do it without spending hundreds more.

Bought the Alexa Auto based on your post and it arrived today - I will be sending it back tomorrow. The mount a d wires are very intrusi e and while I appreciate that issue could probably be overcome with a bit of effort I'm struggling to see what benefit it provides other than improved voice recognition. But at least I tried - just waiting on the wireless charger now.

I haven't fitted mine yet, but it will be going out of sight - we'll see if the voice recognition still works when hidden behind some plastic trim.

[B21]

We use some old iPhone SEs in the Zeds and F56 Minis.

They work great as audio jukeboxes…syncing with iTunes is a snap and you can use the highest quality level consistent with amount of space available. They search and index faster than a USB drive (I also have that so can compare them back to back).

Artwork always works assuming you had artwork on the iTunes copy.

The DACs in iphones are about the best you can buy and Apple’s codecs are much better than MP3 and WMA..

What’s not to like..

Plus if you live in a dodgy reception area you can pop a PAYG sim from another 3/4/5G provider as a backup..

Plus you can then stream Internet apps like sounds / Spotify etc

[Gwest44]

Fair enough regarding the artwork!

I agree it's nicer to have your phone stashed away, but if you want the benefit of half decent maps in your E89, it's the only way to do it without spending hundreds more.

Bought the Alexa Auto based on your post and it arrived today - I will be sending it back tomorrow. The mount a d wires are very intrusi e and while I appreciate that issue could probably be overcome with a bit of effort I'm struggling to see what benefit it provides other than improved voice recognition. But at least I tried - just waiting on the wireless charger now.

I haven't fitted mine yet, but it will be going out of sight - we'll see if the voice recognition still works when hidden behind some plastic trim.

Now I do like that idea and as someone who is very familiar with the concept of being wrong I decided to re-open the package and try again before returning.

Pleased to report you were spot on - it fits under the armrest and plugs in to the USB and the voice recognition still works great

I already had the wallet type holder installed and it fits perfectly in that - I wasn't using it for anything else. All I need now is a slightly shorter USB cable which will no doubt be available from the many draws of crap around the house

[tiglon]

I've gone even more discreet, hopefully I won't need to access it often! Haven't tested it out on the road yet, so it remains to be seen how well it works.